Stackable container



Filed Oct. 25, 1965 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,347,412 STACKABLE CONTAINER Ralph E. McKinney, Beatrice, Nebr., assignor to Hoover Ball and Bearing Company, Saline, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Oct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 503,509 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-97) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A stackable container in which a substantially rectangular box is provided with diagonally extending wall sections. Angle shape legs are secured to the box so that the right angle sections of the legs constitute extensions of the box walls. Top surface plates are provided on the upper ends of the legs at positions below the upper ends of the diagonal wall sections so as to provide supports on one container for a second container stacked thereon.

This invention relates generally to containers for trans porting and storing material and more particularly to an improved container of this type which is simple and economical to manufacture and is provided with a leg construction enabling stacking of a plurality of containers.

The container of this invention consists of a box supported on legs and is usable for transporting and storing a variety of materials. High piling, namely, vertical stacking of containers of this type is desirable from the standpoint of economy of floor space both in storage and in transit in a railway car, for example. Since containers of this type are subject to rough handling and bumping during transit, a rugged container is particularly desirable. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a rugged container which can 'be stacked during transit and storage, consists of a small number of parts which are readily assembled and which will readily slide on a supporting floor surface.

Another object of this invention is to provide an open top container constructed so that a plurality of containers can be stacked one on top of the other without getting dirt from the legs of one container into the open top of the container immediately therebelow, is provided with angle shape legs to provide stability, and has large support areas on the tops of the legs for firmly supporting the lower ends of the legs on a stacked container.

Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, the appended claim, and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the improved container of this invention, showing a second container of this invention stacked on top of the first container, with the upper container being shown in vertically foreshortened form;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the improved container of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the container of this invention, looking substantially along the line 33 in FIG. 2; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged vertically foreshortened sectional view illustrating the leg cosntruction at one corner of the container of this invention.

With reference to the drawing, the container of this invention, indicated generally at 10, is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 as consisting of an open top box or tank 12 and four legs 14 which support the box 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the box 12 is of generally rectangular shape in plan, having side walls 22 and a bottom wall 24. The corners of the rectangular box 12 are formed by short diagonal wall sections 20 each of which extends between the adjacent side walls 22 at a box corner. The box 12 is, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, of one piece construction, and each of the corner walls 20 and side walls 22 has a lower section 26 which is inclined downwardly and inwardly at its juncture with the bottom wall 24. The open top end of the box 12 is formed by return bending each of the corner and side walls outwardly upon itself, as illustrated in FIG. 4 in connection with a corner wall 20. As shown in FIG. 4, the corner wall 20 is formed adjacent its upper end with an inwardly and upwardly inclined wall section 28 which terminates in a horizontally extending section 30 and a downturned section 32 which is secured, as by welding 34, to the lower end of wall section 28. The open top end of the box 12 is thus defined by a horizontal wall section 30 which extends inwardly at the upper end of the box 12. A conventional drain pipe and plug assembly 36 is positioned in one of the side walls 22.

The legs 14 are substantially identical, each consisting of an upright angle 40 provided at its upper end with a top surface member 42, and at its bottom end with a bottom surface member 44. The top surface member 42 is substantially triangular and is secured, as by welding 46, to the angle 40. The bottom surface member 44 is shaped like the top surface member 42 and is provided with an upwardly and outwardly bent reinforcing section 48 which provides the bottom surface member 44 with a curved inner edge 50 facilitating sliding of the surface 44 on a floor surface. The bottom surface member 44 is secured to the angle 40 such as by weldings 52 and 54.

As best appears in FIG. 3, the leg members 14 are located at the corners of the box 12 and are positioned so that the leg top surfaces 42 are below the top wall section 30 of the box 12 a predetermined distance. This distance is less than the distance the leg bottom surfaces 44 are spaced below the box bot-tom wall 24 so that a plurality of containers 10 can be stacked as shown in FIG. 1. The angle 40 in each leg 14 is positioned so that it abuts a corner wall section 20 in a position in which the angle legs 41 (FIG. 2) constitute extensions of the adjacent side walls. The legs are then tack welded along their lengths to the corner wall section 20. A gusset plate 56 is secured to and extends between the box bottom wall 24 and each of the legs 14 as shown in FIG. 3.

In stacking a pair of containers 10, as shown in FIG. 1, the bottom leg surfaces 44 in the upper container 10 are supported on the top end leg surfaces 42 on the lower container 10 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the surface 42 is slightly larger than the surface 44 and therefore provides a firm and adequate support for the upper container 10. It is to be understood of course that more than two containers can be stacked as shown in FIG. 1, two being illustrated in FIG. 1 merely for convenience of illustration. When two containers 10 are stacked as shown in FIG. 1, the wall section 32 at the inner side of each leg surface 42 constitutes an abutment to prevent the top bin 10 from shifting horizontally on the lower bin.

The container 10 of this invention is particularly useful in storing and transporting meat products, and other similar food items. As a result, it is extremely important that when the containers 10 are stacked as shown in FIG. 1, any dirt on the bottom leg surfaces 44 on the upper container 10 does not fall into the open top box 12 in the lower container 10. In this invention, the disposition of the top leg surfaces 42 below the top end surface 30 of the box 12, and the flat disposition of the surfaces 42 prevents such dirt from entering the container 12. Any dirt that may have been on the upper container legs 14, falls onto the supporting surfaces 42 and is readily brushed off the surfaces 42 once the top container 10 has been removed. During the time such dirt is on the surface 42, there is no danger that it will enter the box 12 because the upper end surface 30 of the box 12 is above the leg surfaces 42.

From the above description it is seen that this invention provides a rugged container 10 that can be high piled during storage and transit as illustrated in FIG. 1. The flat surfaces 44 on the bottom ends of the legs 14, as contrasted to sharp edges which would bite into supporting wood surfaces, such as the floors of railway cars, allow the container to slide slightly during shipment preventing the application of damaging stresses, to the container during violent movement of the railway car such as when the car is humped. The large support areas on the surfaces 42 and 44 at the top and bottom ends of the legs 14, respectively, also facilitates stacking of the containers 10 as shown in FIG. 1. The angle shape of the legs 14 gives stability to the tank 10 and enables construction of the container with only the parts illustrated, namely, the box 12 and the four legs 14.

It will be understood that the stackable container which is herein disclosed and described is presented for purposes of explanation and illustration and is not intended to indicate limits of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A stackable container comprising a box having bottom and side walls and an open top, said box being substantially rectangular in plan and having corners formed by diagonal wall sections extending between adjacent side walls, upright supporting legs disposed at said corners of said box, each of said legs being of angle shape in horizontal section so that it has a pair of sections arranged at right angles, said sections in each leg being butted against and secured to a diagonal wall section of said box so as to constitute extensions of said side walls, each of said legs having a bottom end and a top surface which extends between said leg sections and the adjacent diagonal wall section so that said top surface is of a size sufiiciently large to support said bottom end, said legs being secured to said box so as to support said box at a position in which the open top thereof is above top surfaces of said legs a predetermined distance so that a portion of each diagonal Wall section extends upwardly from the top surface of the adjacent leg, said leg bottom ends being spaced below said box bottom wall a distance greater than said predetermined distance so that plurality of said containers are stackable one on top the next so that the leg bottom ends of one rest on the leg top surfaces of the container therebelow and are prevented from shifting horizontally by said portions of the diagonal wall sections on the container therebelow.

3/1932 France. 2/1963 Germany.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner. 

